Curiously Strong Chicks

Oh Hell, They Don't Vote Anyway

2006-05-14T09:51:00.000-05:00

Just caught the chatter on "This Week" about HRC's May 12 speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce convention- the one where she scolds our generation for our laziness.

Verbally boxing our ears for our overindulgent, spoiled lifestyle, she let fly that "a lot of kids don't know what work is. They think work is a four-letter word." She went on to say that "America didn't happen by accident. A lot of people worked really hard. They've got to do their part, too" after berating us for expecting $50, ooo and $75,000 year jobs right out of college. I'm not sure who Hillary's sample is here, because the young people I know are too busy volunteering in nursing homes or elementary schools and working on research and theses to be comparing potential salaries with a microscope, but I suspect it might be skewed by the only young person making that kind of money right out of school that I know of: as the NY Post article points out, Chelsea Clinton, now at McKinsey in New York, is being rewarded for her hard work to the tune of six figures.

Apparently among the more "centrist" (read: GOP) postures Hillary's adopting is cranky, Bob Dole-esque rhetoric that kids today have no work ethic, but I have a hard time imagining such a message resonating in an economy where everyone is working hard to make ends meet- and in an America where parents love and respect their children. It's Bush league politics, too (pun intended), to play one demographic up by scapegoating another. Apparently Hillary thinks the quickest path to the White House is on the backs of young people- I hope she likes knocking on doors, making phone calls, and registering voters herself.

Netroots = Grassroots?

2006-05-07T17:06:00.000-05:00

Dailykos.com founder, Markos Moulitsas, has an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, discussing Hillary Clinton’s vulnerabilities as she seeks the ’08 nomination. He argues, among several points, that HRC’s lack of attention and respect for the blogosphere will be her downfall ’08.

As much as they try to distance themselves from the D.C. party insiders, many popular bloggers would like nothing more than to play kingmaker. Moulitsas’ conclusion that Hillary’s biggest obstacle is online is way far out in left field. While political blogs continue to proliferate, the question remains, who’s really listening? The shrieks of online activists claiming self importance seems to point to the fact that they still need to demonstrate it. Bloggers have had a few high-profile victories – the support they rallied for Paul Hackett in the Ohio 02 special election, “Rather-gate”, and similar occurances. The question is, however, does elite attention to the netroots translate into a populist, grassroots movement?

Quite honestly, right now the answer is no. The majority of the most popular blogs are run by professionals who are themselves political insiders. While bloggers proclaim the democratic nature of the blogosphere, the reality is that the hurdles to achieving another Daily Kos or MyDD are almost insurmountable without the sort of investments and marketing plan put together by people like Arianna Huffington. Moulitsas holds up Howard Dean’s ’04 candidacy, and his proximity to gaining the nomination, as proof of the power of online activist. Yet, post-election studies showed that Dean’s supporters were overwhelmingly white and wealthy. Last time I checked, those were the people who were already part of the D.C. power structure.

People who read and are influenced by political blogs necessarily overcome the high level of political acuity necessary to understand the content. By and large, bloggers and their readers are not the Midwestern soccer moms and rural farmers that the Democratic party needs to bring in to regain a majority. Blogs haven’t yet proved that they can efficiently bring hoards of new people to the table – they’re providing yet another venue for the same elites.

Moulitsas may criticize Clinton for failing to pay attention to the blogosphere, but in reality it may be a smart move. Democrats who pander to the liberal, online constituency are repeatedly tagged by the “MoveOn” stigma, a label the general public fails to find particularly endearing. Clinton has determined to be the candidate of DLC democrats – notoriously at odds with the blogosphere. While Moulitsas warns of the netroots influence, he has produced no evidence of their overwhelming control of primary voters. Yes, primary voters are typically more engaged in politics, activists if you will. But as far I can tell, they are no more willing to let Moulitsas dictate the appropriate candidate to then Harry Reid.

Moulitsas warns that should Clinton continue to avoid the netroots, it will throw its fundraising support behind more appealing candidates, such as Mark Warner or Russ Feingold. That threat may scare other candidates, but last time I checked Clinton don’t need no money from nobody. Clinton’s biggest ’08 problem will be convincing the diverse constituencies of the Democratic Party that she can relate to all of them. And if her husband’s two electoral victories show anything, it’s that a Democrat can win without carrying along the left left wing. Moulitsas and the netroots have really yet to demonstrate the electoral power they keep blogging about. And until they do, candidates like Clinton will continue to ignore them.

Democrats for Steele?

2006-04-18T14:46:00.000-05:00

MD Sen – Democrats for Steele? The race hype in the Maryland Senate race may have just ran into a stumbling block. A Gonzales Marketing & Research Poll tested Dem frontrunners Rep. Ben Cardin and former NAACP Chair Kweisi Mfume against Republican nominee Lt. Governor Michael Steele. Both Dems lead in a head to head match-up with Steele but Cardin’s margin is 14 points (49%-35%) compared to Mfume’s 5 (44%-39%).

It really gets interesting when the numbers are broken down for race and party identification. GOP support for Steele hardly wavers when there’s a white Democratic opponent. Cardin garners 6% of Republican voters compared to Mfume’s 4%. However, Dem support for the Democratic candidate falls from Cardin to Mfume by seven points to under 70%. That’s a very significant drop in Democratic support for their own party which should have the party leadership and Mfume’s campaign very concerned.

Broken down for race, black support for the Democratic candidate goes up six points from Cardin to Mfume (72% and 78%, respectively.) Steele gets 21% of the black vote against Cardin, which should be a concern for Democrats, but only in a tight race. White respondents, however, marginally switch their support from Democrat to Republican depending on whether the Democratic candidate is white. Cardin draws in more white voters (by 3%) than Steele, but Mfume loses white voters to Steele by 12%. Steele’s support among white voters increases 7% when he faces another African-American. Interestingly, the percentage increase in Steele’s support among whites when head to head with Mfume is the same percentage decrease in Mfume support among Democrats.

Political chatter has been anticipating a significant decrease in GOP and white support for Steele if he faces Cardin in the general election. The numbers in this poll, however, show only a marginal fall-off in white and Republican support. The real surprise comes in the number of Democrats who appear to be defecting to Steele should Mfume be the candidate. That sentiment should help Cardin in the primary, where according to the Gonzales poll, he holds an 8 point lead over Mfume, 39% to 31%. Coincidentally, almost the same percentage of Dems who would rather have Senator Steele than Senator Mfume.

Thank God There's Men To Help Me Make Decisions

2006-04-03T18:31:00.000-05:00

Its not nice to stand up the VEEP

2006-03-21T12:14:00.000-05:00

Tom Kean Jr, the Republican who wants to challenge Senator Menendez of New Jersey in November, invited Vice President Dick Cheney to a fundraiser yesterday. Mr. Keen stood Dick up. He apparently took Rt. 1 through NJ instead of the Turnpike, getting stuck in hours of traffic. If you can't figure out how to drive across your state, there's a chance that you shouldn't get to represent it. Then again, maybe he was just scared that Cheney brought some bird shot.

Bimbo for FL Senate

2006-03-21T11:47:00.000-05:00

Katherine Harris, of 2000 recount fame, is trying to run for Senate against Bill Nelson. Things haven't be going so hot...no one seems to like her. Democrats (of course) don't like her, donors don't seem to like her, her own party tried to get her out of the race. Why? Because they think she's a big, fat loser.

The solution? Harris when on FOX's "Hannity and Colmes" last week to announce that she's committing $10 million of her own money to the campaign. Apparently, that's her inheritance from her father. Must be nice...

Hotline's "Wake-Up Call" has this morning that Harris will be appearing on ABC's Nightline tonight. Maybe she's though better of it and decided that her money would be better spent on more plastic surgery...or some hot blue eyeshadow.

The Case for Mark Warner

2006-03-15T13:22:00.000-05:00

Dem consultants Stan Greenberg and Matt Hogan have put together a report on the groups they believe that Dems need to target in '06 in order to win. Looking ahead to '08, look at these groups and tell me Mark Warner isn't the man to bring them over. Many of these groups contributed to his victory in '01 in Virginia. (Courtesy of The Hotline).

* White rural voters (19% of electorate) whose "desire for change still far exceeds their support for" Dems. The %age of them supporting Dems trails the %age "who reject Bush's policy direction" by 8 points.
* White older non-college voters (26%) who favored GOPers by 18 points in '04 but favor the GOP by just 2 points now, thanks to health care costs and retirement security concerns. "A proposal to replace the current prescription drug benefit could go a long way towards solidifying this support, as these voters are very receptive to an alternative plan."
* White college men (18%) who support GOPers by a 6-point margin, less than 1/3 the margin in '04. "These voters overwhelmingly support any attempt to balance the budget" and "recognize the importance of reducing our dependence on foreign oil."
* Gen X voters (18%) "want change but that has not translated into a preference for" Dems in generic congressional ballots. Dem positions on alternative energy and against cuts in student loan funding "could help" Dems.
* White unmarried women (15%) are concerned with Iraq and harmful economic policies and favor Dems by 24 points, double the margin of '04, but remain about 1/5th of the Dem undecided and winnable votes. Prescription drug alternatives are important here, too, as 2/3rds of these women are over 50. Dems must also focus on mobilizing them, as while they make up 20% of the registered voters, they constitute just 15% of the electorate.
* Union households (20%) favor Dems by the same 24-point margin they did in '04, and while they're more conservative than other Dems, "their frustration over the economic policies of the current" admin "leaves the door open" for Dems (release, 3/15).

Virginia Senate Update

2006-03-15T12:42:00.000-05:00

2005 Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor Leslie Byrne endoresed Jim Webb this morning. This is a major endorsement for Webb for several reasons. Byrne is an established figure of the state Democratic Party, having served in the State Senate and in Congress before launching her bid for state-wide office in 2005. She won a four-way primary for the LG nomination, raising her statewide name id. The endorsement of such a well-known Democratic figure (and one known for consistently liberal positions) is a huge boon to Webb's campaign. Not only does it highten his level of credibility within the race, but it also helps to squash the concerns that Webb isn't really a Democrat. Bryne's endoresment raises Webb's worth and reliability in the eyes of Democratic primary voters, which is essential for him to compete with the bonafide liberal Harris Miller.

Additionally, Byrne's endoresment helps to bury the allegations of sexism which have been dogging Webb in the past week. As a Navy officer and more recently as retired Secretary of the Navy, Webb has repeatedly taken public positions opposing women in the military. Leslie Byrne is known as a liberal Democrat and feminist around the state. Her support for Webb helps him to bury the sexism allegations and yet again win over Democratic primary voters who may have been unsure of his opinions.

How all of this will play in the general election, however, is another story. Byrne narrowly lost the Lt. Governor's race in what was an overwhelmingly partisan and bitter race against a Republican who is as conservative as she is liberal. George Allen is very good at trashing his opponents and a Byrne endoresment is prime ammunition for that. However, I doubt that that alone is motivation enough for Republicans to come on en masse to vote against James Webb, should he win the nomination. To the contrary, the Byrne endorsement gives Webb Democratic credibility, which will be essential in this race. Governor Kaine's victory shows that there are enough Democrats and swing votes in Virginia to turn out to vote for a moderate (or against a particularly offensive conservative.) If the President and Congress's poll numbers continue to trend in the mid 30's or lower, Republican turnout is likely to be depressed in the midterm election, significantly benefiting Democratic candidates. However, those Democrats can really only benefit if they can also turn out their own supporters. Here is where Byrne's endoresment comes in for Webb. Virginia Democratic diehards have been threatening to stay home in November if Webb wins the nomination in June. That threat hurts not only Webb, but all of the Democrats running for Congress across the state. Byrne's endorsement helps solidify Webb within the party and help him build the credibility he needs to turn out the Democrat base, not only for himself, but also for Congressional candidates.

Leslie Byrne is no fool.

Why I Heart Mark Warner

2006-03-13T11:50:00.000-05:00

The New York Times Magazine profiled Warner this past Sunday. Here's what he had to say about the type of presidential campaign that he would run. "If I choose to go down this path, it's going to be more about what I'm for than what I'm against." I heart politicians who know what its really about.

Choice Reactions

2006-03-08T10:33:00.004-05:00

So, thoughts on South Dakota:
I think what's really absurd about this whole thing is the way the choice community is reacting. Our leadership is sitting in D.C. spluttering about how the abortion ban "doesn't even contain exceptions for women who are rape or incest victims"... well, obviously.
Zealously anti-choice politicians and zealously anti-choice voters believe that abortion is violent murder- if we don't make rape and incest exceptions for homicide, then why do we expect them to make that exception for an act that they believe is tantamount to taking a life?
We're kidding ourselves if we think these guys (and, yeah, they're guys. there are three, as in one two three, women in the S.D. Senate) are going to be our partners in safe, legal, and rare. All this warm, fuzzy, "prevention first" stuff might help Hillary in her run to the center, but it's a joke to think that women's lives go into the calculus of the self-appointed saviors of the unborn.
Most of this country thinks abortion ought to be legal, at least in these rape and incest cases. We ought to be engaging them and trying to broaden those perspectives, instead of crying foul when people who see us as murders don't play by our rules.

Webb for Senate?

2006-02-15T15:06:00.000-05:00

An interesting article in the National Review about James Webb's Senate campaign against George Allen.

Jim will be a formidable candidate. I already know a number of Virginia Republicans who are inclined to vote for him because of what they (rightly) perceive as his sterling character. It will be interesting to see what happens if he wins (assuredly not a foregone conclusion, given Allen's real strengths).

Big words from a conservative publication. Iiinteresting. Especially considering a new Rassumussen poll showing Webb 37% vs. Allen 49%. Harris Miller, the other candidate for the Democratic nomination, recieved 35% in a head to head matchup with Allen. Allen under 50%? Webb at 37% a week after announcing? '06 is shaping up to be a fun year.

Hopes and Dreams

2006-02-13T13:17:00.000-05:00

I had the opportunity at Saturday's Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner to listen to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell wax poetic about the values he sees in the Democratic Party and the path he thinks we should take. While most of the speech echoed a Warner-like call for centrism and coalition-building, Rendell's comments about the nature of politics particularly caught my attention. It seemed that he couldn't emphasize enough his belief that politics, particularly Democratic politics, should be FUN.

My standard line when anyone asks me why I'm a Democrat is that "the Democratic Party is the party of hope and change for America." Its not often that I sit and think about what those words really mean, but Rendell's emphasis that Democratic politics is about hope and opportunity got me thinking.

In attempting to define the Democratic Party of the 20th century, Democrats at every level of politics have struggled to articulate a clear message and agenda that resonates with the American voters. Over the years, the GOP has created an incredibly effective message machine which has delivered political success due in large part to teaching their audience to fear.

These days, Republican politics seems to be more about facilitating citizens' fears than helping them to realize their dreams. With a core constituency of middle-class, middle-income, middle-life people, the GOP wins their votes by telling them that bra-burning feminists and marriage-aspiring gays are to blame for their middle-sized house and too small SUV. Republicans play to fear of upheaval and loss, opposing social programs which will "steal" middle-class dollars and reduce medical coverage, social security payments, and general morality.

The GOP has discovered a corporate-size payoff in the politics of fear.

Fear has never been an American value. It speaks volumes that the American DREAM inspires not only our own nation, but oppressed people around the world. The great moments in our history have been brought about by visionaries who forsaw the potential in change and the opportunities it would produce.

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin, James Madison, and the rest of our founders espoused a liberal philosophy of democratic ideology and self-government which was off-the-charts lefty radical for its time. What if they had given in to the politics of fear?

What if Abraham Lincoln had surrendered to the naysayers in his cabinet, or FDR had followed in the footsteps of Hoover? The politics of fear rarely triumph and when they do, history is not kind.

Democrats have always been about the triumph of hopes and dreams - the hopes and dreams of African-Americans, of women, of labor, of a myriad of minorities. We might have lost our way and strayed from the path lately, but that heritage is too strong to lose. Democrats, and Americans, are about hope and change for the future - for the realization of all of our American dreams.

Thanks Ed Rendell, for the reminder.

Stupidity prevailing in Richmond

2006-02-09T10:04:00.000-05:00

The Virginia General Assembly, led by the usual Republican suspects, has this week baffled me yet again. Genius legislators in the House of Delegates proposed that we simply castrate sex offenders to prevent them from ever offending again. Of course! Why didn't we think of it before? And we can also cut of the hands of anyone who steals, cut out journalists tongues which they're convicted of libel, and amputate the uterus of unwed mothers. Isn't this slightly reminiscent of Hamurabi's Code?

My second favorite event of the week was when a State Senate subcommittee killed a bill (SB 700) that would prevent discrimination in state hiring based on sexuality. Nevermind that its already an executive order and the bill would simply codify Governor Warner and Kaine's order into state law. Which, you know, seems to be something that the Virginia GOP is fond of, repetitive legislation aimed at gays and lesbians. And nevermind that the bill theoretically also protects heterosexuals from losing their jobs at the discretion of a homosexual boss. The right-wing, UnChristians won the day again with their fool-proof argument that while man may be made in God's image, homosexuality is offensive and therefore there is no way that God ever created that. Brilliant reasoning Sherlock! Just the justification that was need to allow the UnChristians to vote for allowing employment discrimination on the basis of suggested or proven sexuality. Long live the land of the free and the home of the brave. Is stupidity a protected class too?

Where are the women?

2006-02-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

Below is a depiction of female (under)representation in government... ouch
I wonder what female bloggers would look like

Cartoon courtesy of our favorite unnamed tipster. Here's the link

Webb for Senate!

2006-02-08T12:25:00.000-05:00

All right kids, 2006 Virginia politics just got interesting.
The WashPost reports that James Webb has decided jump in the Senate race to challenge George Allen. He's up against Harris Miller in the Dem primary, so we should be in for a fun 9 months of campaigning.
Let's hope a little healthy competition will be good for the Democratic organization and message around the Commonwealth.
As Waldo said: The Virginia blogosphere just got a whole lot more exciting.

Richie Rich

2006-01-29T11:09:00.000-05:00

A new article in the New York Times today reveals that Bush's upper-class tax cut in 2003 did exactly what all the critics predicted - continued to concentrate wealth among the top 1% of Americans. According to the NYT

In 2003 the top 1 percent of households owned 57.5 percent of corporate wealth, up from 53.4 percent the year before, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the latest income tax data. The top group's share of corporate wealth has grown by half since 1991, when it was 38.7 percent.

That's, quite frankly, an astounding rate of growth simply from 2002 to 2003, years that the economy was dragging and certainly the rest of America did not recieve the same advantages the Bush Administration deemed worthy to bestow on the very, very rich.

This is all troubling, because, as the Republicans will surely tell you, anyone can achieve the American Dream and become fabulously wealthy if they just work hard enough. This latest data, however, shows that claim to be the pipe dream is really is. Democrats have long argued that the American Dream is unachieveable if the playing field isn't even. Not everyone starts from the same starting line, and it seems that once they're off the block, the already advantaged are still recieving a huge hand up from their buddies in power. Meanwhile, those Americans who most need a hand up, not a hand out, are floundering without the assistance that their more fortunate collegues are recieving simply by the mere fact that they're rich.

The White House spokesman who commented on this story had the sagacity to say the White House wasn't sure that their tax cuts had caused the increase in wealth concentration but that the really important issue illustrated here was a disparity in education distribution.

"We want to lift all incomes and wealth," said Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman. "We are starting to see that the income gap is largely an education gap."

Unfortunately, Mr. Duffy only managed to spin the story to another area where the Administration's actions have been less than commendable. While the statement is entirely accurate - quality of education is, in fact, a gigantic factor in determining economic success, the Bush Administration's education policies have only perpetuated that system.

Their heralded "No Child Left Behind" program, while bearing a catchy name, in reality punishes schools which serve low-income neighborhoods by providing a very small window in which to improve performance and then withdrawing financial support when the school is not able to meet requirements. There is no offer to increase financial support in order to increase performance - thats just a little too egalitarian for this Administration. Their proposed school vouchers, in another example, would allow the rich to spend their money elsewhere while the underprivileged would continue to be stuck in underperforming schools. Doesn't that sound like the fast track to the American Dream?

If we could only just tax those poor people out of existence, then we could all afford private schools, we'd all be rich, and we wouldn't have to pay those silly taxes to support public education...

Ten words to fix it all

2006-01-20T11:32:00.000-05:00

Tom Vilsack's PAC has a new website up asking people to submit the ten words they think "define the Democratic message." I submitted my ten, but used only eight: "We are the party of the American Dream."

I really think communicating some form of that idea is the key. It's the message the modern Democratic Party was built on and the one we have failed to get across since Clinton left office. It's about the ability to bring positive change. It's a promise to every voter that we will personally make sure that tomorrow is better than today by improving national security, health care and education.

Of course, candidates will be running on ethics and all that for the next few years, but I wonder if that's really enough - voters tend to distrust politicians of all parties. We need something to set ourselves apart, and I think this is it.

A Ray of Light

2006-01-16T20:13:00.000-05:00

Virginia may have just inaugurated its second Democratic governor in a row, but apparently progressive thinking has only progressed so far in the Commonwealth. Last week, the Virginia House of Delegates again passed an amendment to the Virginia Constitution outlawing gay marriage, civil unions, and most anything that might carry of the connotation of homosexuality. In an un-Christian, antagonist, and self-righteous move, the Republican leadership of the House determined that passing the marriage amendment was so important that it trumped taking action on the budget, healthcare, prescription drugs, law and order, transportation, or really anything else that might be determined important.

Similarly depressing was the number of Democratic legislators who voted for the amendment. Certainly Virginia is not a liberal state and in order to have Dems in office we must make some concessions, but this one certainly hurts. However, there are a few shining stars within the delegation who make this defeat slightly easier to bear. It must be said that several Democratic legislators fought to change even the most minute of language in an attempt to delay passage of the amendment. (In Virginia, a constitutional amendment must be passed by two consecutive General Assemblies and then approved by a statewide referendum. Any change in the bill's language, even changing an "and" to an "or" would require it to pass yet again through the Assembly.) The only openly gay member of the General Assembly, Del. Adam Ebbin spoke on the floor of the House of Delegates on the Amendment. And freshman delegate David Englin gave his very first floor speech, and made quite a few waves, speaking passionately and rationally against the amendment. While I admit that I might personally be a bit biased in favor of Del. Englin since he does employ my boyfriend, his speech was so impressive that DailyKos picked it up and generated a ton of comments.

Check it out. Slow as the progress seems, we are slowly moving towards the light.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-22T11:33:00.000-05:00

Replace "jolly" with "sneering", and "bringing presents and holiday cheer to all the boys and girls" with "taking food and medical care away from poor kids" and we're got ourselves a hell of a Santa Claus story.

Dick Cheney flew back into D.C. to cast a tie-breaking vote on a budget bill that will, among other provisions devastating to low income families, cut $844 million in food stamps. That means 300,000 Americans will lose their food stamps, and- wait for the heartwarming Christmas twist- free or reduced price school meals will be taken away from 40,000 children.

It's cool, though, because we won't have to hear about the consequences of malnourishment on the health of these kids, since the budget bill also cut a whole bunch of foster children off of Targeted Case Management rolls, restricting their access to medical care and social services.

Think repossessing Tiny Tim's crutches four days before Christmas. If Tiny Tim had been in foster care.

An impressive show from a united Dem front and a couple of warm-blooded GOPers brought the vote to a tie, leading to Cheney's Anti-Claus stunt.

Usual snide denouement fails me- replace "sarcastic" with "heartbroken", I guess.

Allen and Hate Crimes

2005-12-13T12:25:00.000-05:00

This article is really interesting - and not only because RTD uses the inappropriate term "gays" in its headline. I'm not sure how I feel about hate crimes legislation - it doesn't quite seem right for us to demand that individuals think in the way society deems appropriate, and to convert that demand into stiffer punishments for beating up one person instead of another. Plus, alleged hate crimes can be totally accidental - like on Desperate Housewives! Just kidding, of course.

But regardless of the merits of hate crimes legislation, Allen may not be doing himself any favors by "flip-flopping" on this issue. Kaine's election showed us that you can win in Virginia by talking to moderate, right-leaning suburban and exurban voters about education and transportation and leaving aside the social issues.

Just a thought.

"FEMA reimbursements mainly benefit higher income groups"

2005-12-11T12:05:00.000-05:00

This kind of thing makes me furious - when Republicans are in charge, aren't government programs supposed to be cut to the bare bones? Apparently not in Florida, where:

"FEMA reimbursed applicants in the richest 15 percent of the state's ZIP codes $27.5 million" for supplies like generators, chain saws dehumidifiers, air purifiers and wet/dry vacuums purchased for home use after a disaster. The state of Florida covered 25% of these costs, even for the richest of the rich.

"In the Windermere area southwest of Orlando, home to business tycoons and celebrity athletes, 221 residents collected $177,411.In Vero Beach on the east coast, where the town Web site says 'America's cultural and corporate elite" close business deals' on a handshake during a round of golf," FEMA reimbursed 860 applicants of one ZIP code $609,777."

All this while an 18-year-old had to insert catheters by candlelight because his family couldn't afford to front the money for a generator and wait for FEMA's reimbursement check.

Interesting to note that Virginia ended these type of reimbursements after Hurricane Isabel, when the total cost hit $8 million.

Eugene McCarthy (March 29, 1916-December 10, 2005)

2005-12-10T16:58:00.000-05:00

A moment to appreciate Gene McCarthy: principled liberal and unabashed intellectual, defender of a more democratic Democratic party, and and an example more timely than ever, what with all this calculating discussion over potential Democratic 2006 gains over the failures of the Iraq war...

"This is, I say, the time for all good men not to go to the aid of their party, but to come to the aid of their country."

Now as ever.

He'll be missed.

More Goode News

2005-12-10T12:47:00.000-05:00

The Richmond Times Dispatch opines today

So what about the MZM-connected donations to Goode?

At this stage, giving them back would make as much sense as inviting MZM to leave the Fifth District -- complete with the MZM jobs currently held by many Fifth District residents.

Yup, cause giving back $100K to a crook makes absolutely no sense. If MZM leaves the 5th District, I want it noted that the RT-D told them to leave first.

Voter Supression?

2005-12-10T12:12:00.000-05:00

A three-judge panel in Richmond ruled yesterday that up to 500,000 ballots (approximately 26%) of those cast in the Attorney General's race will not be recounted. Lawyers for Democrat Creigh Deeds argued that considering the 323 vote margin in the race, it was essential for the court to allow a rescan of the optical scan paper ballots. Those ballots are often undercounted by the scan machines due to voters marking the ballots in a way which the machine can't read. Republican Bob McDonnell's lawyers countered Deeds by asserting that rescanning the ballots could lead to the necessity of handcounting over 100,000 ballots, increasing the propensity for human error.

This ruling is strongly reminiscent of the 2000 Florida recount debacle. One can only hope that Virginia will manage to not look like such a bunch of badly trained monkeys to the rest of the nation. At this point, human error seems to be beyond the point. Human error is ostensibly responsible for the incorrect ballot accounting in the first place - wouldn't counting ALL the ballots help to rectify that? As with the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore in 2000, this court decision leaves seriously questions about the committment of our legal system to "one person, one vote."

Disenfranchisement, that old issue we thought we'd solved with the Voting Rights Act in 1965, is back rearing its ugly head. The truth of the matter is that localities that use paper ballots on Election Day generally do so because poorer localities can't afford the touch-screen voting machines available in wealthier locales. While touch-screen machines do have problems of their own (mainly lack of a paper trail and lack of protection against hacking), they largely eliminate voter confusion and error. Significantly, they also elimate tabulation error and the need for a recount. Recounting electronic machines involves pressing the "print" button again. Not a lot of room for error.

In localities that use paper ballots, however, those voters are on the short end of the consitutional stick. Voting is a local matter - localities determine the locations and means of voting. Digital, touch-screen machines are often too expensive for many localities. This inequity between localities is also an inequity in vote tabulation. Residents of wealthier locales may be sure that their votes are correctly counted but what about those who are disadvantaged. Surely, residents of Bath County have the same right to an assurance of their vote counting as do residents of Alexandria and Chesterfield.

In short, these discrepancies between voting method are not just a pain in the neck for those orchestrating a recount. They pose serious questions about the constitutional assurance of voting rights. Everyone deserves to know that their vote is counted, not just the wealthy. The court decision in the Attorney General recount is damaging not only to Creigh Deed's bid to become the next AG of Virginia, but it is highly detrimental to the ethos of civic duty which is required in this nation to convince constituents to cast a ballot of their future. Voting may serve as a classic example of a collective action problem - using the courts to effectively dissuade voters from believing in the efficacity of their vote only compounds the problem. A resilient democracy is contigent upon citizen participation - that participation is threatened every time a court, be it in Virginia or Florida, invalidates a resident's right to have their vote counted, no matter how strenuous the burden. And it poses a serious question to the continuance of applying the principle of federalism to our voting system. Our nation is based upon ability of every citizen to cast a ballot. Is that right, no, necessity, so underappreciated that we're willing to subject it to the ad hoc regulation of hundreds of thousands of seperate localities?

On Torture...

2005-12-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

My buddy Condi Rice has been grappling with some harsh criticism from European leaders about U.S. treatment of detainees and terrorist suspects. You know, like shipping them off to be interrogated in countries that allow torture or holding them for unknown amounts of time in secret jails.
Louise Arbor, the UN Human Rights Commish has been particularly tough on the US, Rice and the War on Terror. Arbor has lamented that the global ban on torture is becoming a casualty of the war on terror, and the allegations of abuse and torture are having a corrosive effect on America's moral leadership. Ok, that makes sense and is definitely somehting to worry about, even if the charges are false.
In a very pragmatic statement considering she's the international community's top human rights official, Arbor said "There are lots of human rights that can be set aside temporarily in cases of emergencies, lots of them, but not the right to life and not the protection against torture."
We all know that during this global war on terror, the administration's top priority isn't human rights, and certainly hasn't been cozying up the international community. You remember, of course, when George W. Bush chided then-Preisdential candidate John Kerry for suggesting some kind of "global test" before gonig to war. Preposterous! Sending John Bolton, a man who had a less than favorable opinion of the UN before his nomination to be our country's representative at that very organization? Of course!
Well, Bolton lived up to his reputation and hit Arbor and the UN hard by saying, that it was "inappropriate and illegitimate for an international civil servant to second-guess the conduct that we're engaged in [in] the war on terror, with nothing more as evidence than what she reads in the newspapers." Here's the foolproof Bush admin argument that the war on terror calls for drastic action, the US shouldn't have to answer to international pansies, and they know more than the American people and UN officials because they know what's really going on; they have "intelligence."
Well, I'm happy to say that Ms. Arbor's criticisms on torture, the administration's defense that times of war call for drastic actions, and their reliance on "intelligence" have all come together in one neat little revelation. The NYTimes reported yesterday that:

The Bush administration based a crucial prewar assertion about ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda on detailed statements made by a prisoner while in Egyptian custody who later said he had fabricated them to escape harsh treatment, according to current and former government officials.

OK, so if torture isn't bad just because it is a flagrant violation of basic human rights, it's bad on a very practical level that all the veteran hawks in the Bush admin should understand -- it does not provide reliable intelligence.
This makes me wonder if whomever is authorizing this kind of behavior ever read about the Spanish Inquisition or the Salem witch trials. Torture may be a great way of getting someone to 'fess up to something they didn't do, but it certainly is not a good way of extracting information on which to base a war. Fine, the tactics the CIA and USG have been using may not qualify as "torture" under the global ban, but I still don't think waterboarding (a process that makes the subject feel like he or she is drowning), for example, is the best way to gain useful intelligence on terrorist networks or national security threats.

And by the way, today marks the 57th anniversary of the UN's adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Happy anniversary.

GOP Scandal #13432: Jack Abramoff

2005-12-09T17:52:00.000-05:00

A story in today's Washington Post details the deal given to his business associate, Adam Kidan, in exhange for his testimony against Abramoff and embattled Ohio congressman Bob Ney (R). The article details some rather astouding allegations against Abramoff and his associates, including connections to the Gambino crime family and the mysterious death of a man to whom Abramoff and associates owed $23 million.

Abramoff and Kidan were indicted in August by a federal grand jury in Fort Lauderdale on five counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy relating to their $147.5 million SunCruz purchase. Prosecutors alleged that Abramoff and Kidan faked a wire transfer of $23 million -- the down payment they had agreed to put into the deal. The $23 million became the subject of a dispute between the Abramoff group and Boulis.

Boulis was killed in a gangland-style hit in Fort Lauderdale on Feb. 6, 2001. Three men -- Anthony Moscatiello, Anthony Ferrari and James Fiorillo -- were charged last month in the Boulis murder. Kidan had hired Moscatiello and Ferrari to provide catering and surveillance services to SunCruz.

Moscatiello, identified by authorities as a former bookkeeper for the Gambino crime family, asserted after his arrest that Ferrari had admitted to him that he and another man killed Boulis after getting a call from Kidan, according to court filings. Conway declined to comment on the Moscatiello assertions.

When exactly did Congress start to resemble a bad episode of The Sopranos?

Headline of the Day

2005-12-09T11:21:00.000-05:00

"RISING WILD PIG POPULATION A THREAT TO BEACHES, REFUGE" - Associated Press

Biker chick in AZ-08

2005-12-09T10:39:00.000-05:00

Alert correspondent Dave Wasserman brought our attention to a bad-ass chick starting to stand out among the field vying to replace retiring Republican Jim Kolbe in Arizona's 8th Congressional District. State Representative Gabrielle Giffords, elected to the Arizona State Senate at the age of 32, is a small business owner and a Fulbright scholar whose dream is to ride her motorcycle to Argentina. She's on the DLC's Top 100 to Watch and has received awards from the Sierra Club and dozens of other organizations. Although I'm not totally comfortable with her commitment to run to the right of Kolbe in a majority Republican district, it may help her get out of a crowded Democratic primary that could include an Air Force Figher pilot, a professor and a civil rights lawyer. She'll need a lot of cash to pull it out, so if you love her, let her know!

Ann Coulter: Smarter than the average UConn student?

2005-12-08T16:55:00.000-05:00

Well, not according to a CNN online poll, where 63% of respondents say that Ann Coulter is in fact stupider than "jeering UConn students." Those students were jeering at Coulter at a recent speech she gave at their university where she declared "I love to engage in repartee with people who are stupider than I am." College students don't really enjoy being called dumb. I'd be jeering too. Guess she should consider herself lucky that they didn't throw any pies.

The War on Christmas

2005-12-07T13:47:00.000-05:00

No wonder the vast majority of Jews are Democrats. It appears that the right hates their holidays. Or at least acknowledging them. The Bush White House is under fire from "Christian" conservatives for sending out seasonal cards which wish recipients a happy "holiday season" rather than a Merry Christmas. First Lady Laura Bush's press secretary tried to explain that the cards aren't just going to Christians. But that isn't good enough for Joseph Farah. He says that Bush "Bush "claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn't act like one," said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. "I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it."" And William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, was quoted in the Washington Post saying "This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture." These are the same people who have decreed a boycott of Land's End and Target for holding holiday sales rather than Christmas sales.

Where do I sign up to join the crusade against Hanukkah?

Eureka!

2005-12-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

The Richmond Times-Dispatch opines today that "Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode's justified concern about illegal immigration occasionally has led him to stray from the common sense for which he is well-regarded. He has proposed, for instance, using the U.S. military to patrol the nation's borders (when it has far more important tasks elsewhere) and amending the Constitution to ensure all government business is conducted in English."

But, the RT-D continues in its infinite wisdom, Goode's NEW proposed legislatin is just what the country needs. What better way to combat illegal immigration (always a huge issue in the rural 5th District) than to build a big fence along the U.S.-Mexico border? Honestly, why didn't we think of it before? It's genius! So genius, in fact, that those large-brained, politically sensitive souls over at the RT-D felt the need to compare Goode's proposed fence to the demarcation fence that Israel is constructing between the West Bank and Israel in an attempt to keep out terrorist. The same fence, in fact, which was invalidated by the World Court. Sounds like just the solution for our borders. Good going Goode!

Culture of Corruption Makes Its Way to VA-05

2005-12-05T23:40:00.000-05:00

The wealth of scandal inside the Beltway these days is really something to be marveled at. It took the Democratic Party decades to reach this level of corruption during their control of Congress. The Republicans, however, always eager to outdo us Dems at everything, have possibly reached a new record. They have managed to completely dominate the newspaper headlines with news of their wayward activities in everything from national security to baseball to campaign finance in only 11 short years.

While I take a fair amount of glee in Tom DeLay being indicted, Bill Frist "misunderstanding" the definition of "blind" in blind trust, Scooter Libby taking the fall for his boss, and a myriad of other scandals which prove yet again that the GOP has no idea how to govern, I have to admit that nothing has amused me quite as much as the nefarious dealings of my very own Virginia Fifth District Congressman, Virgil Goode. He's never really been at the top of my popularity list, but he fell precipitously after he left the Democratic Party to become a Republican. That in itself should be a statement about his principles.

In case you've gotten lost in the muddy waters of remembering which indicted Republican goes with which scandal, Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham resigned last week after pleading guilty to bribery. Cunningham took approximately $2.4 MILLION from defense contractor Michell Wade and his company, MZM, Inc.

Now here's where it really gets fun. MZM, you see, doesn't contribute to a whole lot of Congressmen. But over the course of the past two election cycles, MZM PAC, Michell Wade, and MZM employees and spouses have contributed almost $100, 000 to little ol' Virgil Goode. And curiously, Goode serves on the Intelligence Appropriates subcommittee that authorized the establishment of an analysis center in Martinsville (the southern part of Goode's district which is experiencing double digit unemployment). That analysis center was never requested by the Defense Department, but was slipped into the appropriations bill at Goode's request. Subsequently, MZM was awarded the no-bid contract to run the center.

Bringing jobs into the district is all well and good. However, Goode has received more money from MZM than from any other campaign contribution source. Far be it from me to accuse anyone of wrong doing, but it must be admitted that the wealth of campaign cash in conjunction with a lucrative deal for MZM should be raising some eyebrows, especially considering that FEC records show that the cash flowed into Goode's coffers in very large amounts on very few dates.

The other fun element of this story is that a few anonymous former MZM employees claim that their contributions to an unidentified congressperson were coerced by Wade. That, my friends, is a violation of federal law. Goode, being the kind heart that he is, has volunteered to return any campaign contributions that were unwillingly given. Yes, good ol' Goode has thought this one through and volunteered to return contributions to anyone who wishes to raise their hand and cry "I broke the law!". So far takers on that offer are very few and far between.

Which brings us to present day. Currently, Congressman Goode's largest political contributor and dubious reciepient of his influence and patronage stands accused of bribing another Congressman. While Goode may very well have done nothing wrong (and it is important to note that $100,000 is a far cry from $2.4) do the residents of the 5th District really want their congressman accepting money from a crook. I just shook my Magic 8 ball and it says all signs point to no. Apparently Goode has a similar prognosticating tool because he told the Lynchburg News and Advance that he is considering donating the tainted funds to charity. As long as that charity doesn't go by the name "Tom DeLay's Legal Defense Fund...."

Weatherholtz Redux

2005-12-05T19:26:00.000-05:00

Further proving that Virginia bigots never die, they just get reincarnated...

Delegate-elect Matt Lohr, Glenn Weatherholtz's successor to represent Harrisonburg in the GA, has outline his planned bills to introduce when the session starts up in 2006- at the top of the list is a resurrection of one of Weatherholtz's pet projects that was too staggeringly homophobic to get through the State Senate last session (although it did make it through the HoD, the body with the spotless record on keeping "the queers" in their place).

Anyway, Lohr's bill, just like last year's, will "give school boards the discretion to block clubs that they think promote sexual activity by unmarried minor students." Yeah, there wasn't an Unwed 'n Underage Sex Club at my high school, either- Lohr (and Weatherholtz's) beef is with those subversive Gay Straight Alliance types of organizations, which we all know actively promote homosexual sex (and oh, hell, man on dog sex, too, right Rick?) and homosexual sex exclusively- not support, not acceptance, just lots and lots of gay sex.

The irony of it all is that Gay Straight Alliances (which, incidentally, have probably saved the lives of hundreds of LGBT teenagers, a demographic that represents 30% of all teen suicide) are one of the best ways to make sure that future generations don't grow up to be as intolerant as the bigots in the GA who push anti-gay legislation like the Commonwealth's future depends on it. Which means that the succession (regression?) of Lohr to Weatherholtz's seat will just be repeated ad infinitum...

Encouraging.

2005-12-04T23:46:00.000-05:00

All you need to know is Bartlett is our president.